Summer Poppies

Posted: June 26, 2013 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Background Stamps, CAS, Field of Poppies | 10 Comments

When making this card I began with a colour scheme more than image. I wanted a beige background with some red highlights. As I worked with the beige and red I decided it needed a stronger brown as well. When almost finished the panel I thought could use it for Karen’s OLW challenge today “Splats & Splatters” but then realised, as has happened to me before, that it is not a one layer card!

Anyway, on to the method: I began by stamping the letter background and the poppy stamp in Memento desert sand. Next I sponged some desert sand and re-inked the poppy stamp with desert sand and love letter inks. I sponged some red onto the petals, added some blended ink with an aqua painter and some highlights with a marker. I used both love letter and potter’s clay inks for more sponging and the potter’s clay marker to lengthen and define the stems a little more. The splatters were done in both the love letter and the potter’s clay ink.

All my children have finished school now so there are new activities happening and plans being made. I have been sorting and reorganizing my craft space and also tackling the schoolroom/playroom/storeroom which I plan to change into the guestroom for our summer guests.

Thanks for dropping by.

Supplies:

Stamps: Field of Poppies, Sweet Wishes, Letter Background (PB)
Inks: Memento Potter’s Clay, Desert Sand, Love Letter (Tsukineko)
Memento Markers: Potter’s Clay, Love Letter (Tsukineko)
Also: red grosgrain ribbon (Lorraine’s ribbon stash!)

Early light

Posted: June 21, 2013 | Author: Heather | Filed under: CAS, Enjoy LIfe, Every Happiness | Tags: CAS, Penny Black stamps | 39 Comments

Now that I am back from my trip to DC and half way through the piles of washing I found a little time to create a card. I have some great design team tasks to tackle and new class projects to design for August but before I dive into them I played around with a new toy. I know it doesn’t look like anything new here but I cut my mask with one of my new spellbinders square dies. Creating a mask with a die is that little bit easier than lining up the four post-it notes. (not a ground breaking technique, I know!)

With my mask in place I sponged Memento pistachio ink on the lower two thirds of the square and summer sky in the top third. Before removing the mask I stamped the grasses across the bottom of the scene. After removing the mask I added the grass and sentiment in olive grove.

I hope to settle back into a routine of visiting and commenting on your blogs; thank you so much for dropping in here.

Supplies:

Stamps: Enjoy Life, Every Happiness (PB)
Inks: Memento Pistachio, Olive Grove, Summer Sky (Tsukineko)

A visit to Reston

Posted: June 15, 2013 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Classes | 8 Comments

I don’t have a card today but I have had a day of card making. Teaching card making to be exact. A few days ago my husband, son and I drove to Washington DC to stay with a friend who has attended many a happy class at Angela’s Happy Stamper in Reston, Virginia. My friend Lorraine, Angela and I schemed and planned so that I could come and teach some classes.

I taught two classes today and will teach one again tomorrow. I had a great time teaching some of my favourite techniques and layouts. I will feature the cards here eventually but for now I’d just like to thank Angela, Lorraine, Harriet and all the ladies who attended for making me feel so welcome and for being so very encouraging about the cards and classes.

While I was happily stamping, Andrew and B12 were off seeing the sights. You can check out what they were doing on my other blog.

Watercolour Wonder

Posted: June 4, 2013 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Fluffy Passenger, Lace Trims, Watercolour | 10 Comments

I have two very different cards today both made using water colour techniques and effects. First a bit of whimsy, then some vintage. Both these will be added to the Penny Black Watercolor Wonder Board on Pinterest. If you have not visited the Penny Black boards lately you are in for a treat. They are a bunch of new ones full to the brim with inspiration.

For the watercoloured cyclist (Fluffy Passenger) panel I stamped the image in Versafine Onyx Black onto Watercolour paper. I embossed in clear then painted masking fluid over all the parts I wanted to paint or colour later.

When the masking fluid was totally dry I taped the panel to my craft table and wet the top half which would become the sky. Onto the wet paper I added Danube Blue and Rosebud pink ink letting it blend together to create a pale sunset. As I had only wet the paper half way down the inks did not bleed past the wet edge. When the sky was dry I cut a post-it mask in a hill shape so I could stamp the Paris stamp in the background.

To create the foreground I wet the lower section of the paper and painted on some London Fog plus some more blue and pink. When it was all dry I rubbed the masking fluid off and used Memento markers, inks and a gelato(skin colour) to add colour to the cyclist.

Supplies:

Stamps: Fluffy Passenger, Sweet Wishes, Paris (PB)
Inks: Memento London Fog, Danube Blue, Rose Bud & Versafine Onyx Black (Tsukineko)
Memento Markers: London Fog, Lilac Posies, Dandelion, Danube Blue, Summer Sky, Desert Sand (Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper
Also: Clear embossing powder, Winsor & Newton Masking Fluid, Faber-Castell peach gelato

This new lace set from Penny Black is very pretty; there are seven different lace trims to play with. I thought they would be perfect for a vintage card. Before any stamping I flicked masking fluid over the piece of watercolour paper and let it dry. Next I wet the whole piece of water colour paper then stamped the lace stamp in Memento Desert Sand to fill the panel. When it had dried a little but was still damp I restamped some lace in Memento Potter’s clay and finally a small portion in Espresso Truffle. I added the rose in Espresso Truffle also, then used a marker and aqua painter to blend some colour onto the leaves and petals. I added the sentiment when the panel was dry but dropped a few water droplets on it for a little bleeding. When it was all dry I tore the bottom edge, sponged all the edges, added some spots of Potter’s Clay ink then removed the masking fluid to reveal little white flecks and specks.

Thanks for dropping in; I hope you are inspired to splash a little water colour around!

Supplies:

Stamps: Sweet as Honey, Lace Trims, Sentimental (PB)
Inks: Memento Potter’s Clay, Desert Sand, Espresso Truffle (Tsukineko)
Memento Markers: Potter’s Clay, Desert Sand (Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper
Also: Winsor & Newton Masking Fluid

PB Blog Hop: Floral Applique

Posted: May 31, 2013 | Author: Heather | Filed under: CAS, Floral Applique | 128 Comments

I am participating in the Penny Black designers blog hop today so you may have arrived here via Jill’s blog. If not you can follow the links at the bottom of this post to make sure you don’t miss anything. From here pop over to see Cathy’s creation.

To create these two cards I pulled out the beautifully soft Versamagic Chalk inks(I’ve listed the colours at the bottom of the post). I masked off part of each card with post it notes and then stamped the stamps from the Floral Applique set randomly to create an all over design. The smaller panel reminds me of vintage wall paper or fabric. I added sponging to the panels which blended and softened the edges of the images. To stay in keeping with the vintage look I used sentiments from the new Sentimental set.

In honor of Penny Black’s newest collection, the Penny Black designers are sharing projects and inspiration with the new stamps!

Not only are we hopping, we’re giving away stamps, too! Leave a comment on each blog, including the Penny Black blog, for a chance to win a selection of these brand new stamps.

To begin the hop from the start and for a complete list of all blogs involved, visit the Penny Black blog HERE.

Supplies:

Stamps: Floral Applique, Sentimental (PB)
Inks: Versamagic Night Sky & Aegean Blue, Sea Breeze & Sahara Sand, Versafine Majestic Blue(Tsukineko)

OLW 142 Happy Birthday to Ardyth

Posted: May 29, 2013 | Author: Heather | Filed under: CAS, Embellishments, Penny Black | 8 Comments

Happy Birthday dear Ardyth, happy birthday to you.

Birthday girl, Ardyth is hosting the One Layer Wednesday Challenge today and has turned it into a celebration. Darnell has also joined in the festivities with a birthday party on her blog where we can add our “Ardythian” cards. I chose to case this card. I love seeing what Ardyth comes up with on her blog. Clever. Clever. Clever.

I masked a square with post-it notes and then added another mask across the middle. The buttons are from the Embellishments set and the sentiment made using two stamps from Words Express.

Go and check out Ardyth’s blog. Be amazed. Wish her happy birthday and whip up a card!

Poppies in a field

Posted: May 27, 2013 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Field of Poppies, Penny Black, Watercolour | 22 Comments

Considering how much I like poppy images it is surprising that it took me a while to play with this stamp. I used one of my favourite watercolour techniques to create this little scene and paired it with one of my favourite sentiment stamps.

For this look, I paint water onto my watercolour paper first. I ink the stamp with markers and stamp it onto the wet paper. The ink bleeds immediately and some times the images are barely recognisable. After the paper has dried a little I stamp the image again and start blending the ink with a brush or aqua painter. At this point I add extra colour to petals and stems if necessary with markers or watercolour pencils. Before the paper has dried I add the blue sky with a paint brush and maybe a little sponging.

I didn’t have the exact colour of pink cardstock to mat the image panel so I just sponged the edge in the same Memento Rosebud ink that I had used for the petals.

Thanks for visiting and leaving me such l0vely comments. I loved all the border ideas submitted for my last One Layer Wednesday Challenge but have not managed to finish commenting yet. I’ll get there; thanks for your patience.

Supplies:

Stamps: Field of Poppies, Thanks, thanks (PB)
Inks & Markers: Memento Summer Sky, Bamboo Leaves, Cantaloupe, Rose bud, Potter’s Clay (Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper, Faber Castell water colour pencils.

You’ve Been Spotted

Posted: May 21, 2013 | Author: Heather | Filed under: April Showers, CAS, Penny Black | 11 Comments

This week Penny Black and the design team members are taking some time to honour some stampers who make Penny Black stamps shine.

spotted blog graphic

There is a wealth of creativity shared on the Penny Circle Flickr gallery and this lovely butterfly card from Helentheheffalump really caught my eye.

Helen has a Flickr gallery and a blog featuring many Penny Black stamps on beautiful cards. This card appealed to me for several reasons. The blue and black work really well with Kraft cardstock (I am always impressed by pretty Kraft cards because I have never had much success with Kraft). I also like this CAS layout especially with a little texture and twine thrown in.

With the inspiration of Helen’s butterfly in front of me I decided to give Kraft cardstock a go…

Supplies:

Stamps: April Showers (PB)
Inks: Versamark Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Some Kraft I found in the drawer
Also: white embossing powder, Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils, yellow and white embroidery thread

A blossom tree

Posted: May 20, 2013 | Author: Heather | Filed under: CAS, Tutorial | Tags: Tutorial | 15 Comments

I am honoured to be the guest designer at Scrap Rendez-vous today. I have a short tutorial over there describing my masking and sponging technique for this card: